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THEMISSrSSIPPI AGRICULTURAL 

AND 

MECHANICAL COLLEGE 

THE PRESIDENTS REPORT 
1913- 1915 



J 




PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON 










George r. hightower 

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE 



11 ^|L^>«-^e^^ax3^ 



Th< 



Mississippi Agricultural 
a#c/ MecHanical College 



A Part of the 



President's Biennial Report 
19 13-1915 




A.n institution founded in 
eig'hteen seventy-ei^ht, 
and devoted to educa- 
tional and industrial de- 
velopment in Mississippi 




LIS 336 1 



PRESS 
O F T H E 

BRANDON 
PRINTING 
COM PANY 



By transfer 
The White Kou 




THE STEPHEN D. LEE MEMORIAL CHAPEL 



The Mississippi Agricultural and Me- 
chanical College entered formally upon 
its career in the fall of eighteen seventy - 
eight. Like that of many business and 
other educational institutions, its begin- 
ning was comparatively modest. Its 
founders had no adequate idea of the 
extent of the educational reforms which 
were to follow the development of the 
ideal in mind when this and similar in- 
stitutions for vocational training were 
made a part of the na- 
tional educational sys- 
tem. The College itself 
is still young — very young when meas- 
ured by the lives of many seats of learn- 
ing — but it has witnessed almost a revo- 
lution in educational affairs. Those who 
know best its purpose and feel most its 
dominating spirit, and who read aright 
the tendencies that are giving direction 
to educational development in later 
years, believe that its progress and influ- 
ence during the last quater of a century, 
rapid and great as these have been, are 
but an indication of what is to come. 



History and 
Progress 




HRONZE BUST OF GENERAL STEPHEN D. LEE 




THE NEW CHEMICAL LABORATORY 



In its academic life the College is con- 
tinually becoming broader and richer. 
If its development since its foundation 
has been rapid, it can not be said that its 
resources have always kept pace with 
ever increasing demands and responsi- 
bilities. But in a few years a small col- 
lege has developed into a large polytech- 
nic institute whose activities cover a 
wide range of endeavor. The basic idea 
in its administration has been the main- 
tenance of an institution 
eve opmen - n h armonv w ith the re- 
of an Ideal 

quirements of modern 

society. It has constantly sought to em- 
phasize the importance of an economic 
basis for liberal culture. It has been nec- 
essarily a champion of vocational train- 
ing. In earlier years this breaking away 
from the older ideals brought criticism 
and sometimes ridicule from conserva- 
tives who could see nothing elevating or 
cultural in the acquisition of useful and 
practical knowledge. But happily the 
time has come when efforts to increase 
the usefulness of the college career are 

6 




THE DARDEN MEMORIAL SHAFT 




ENGINEERING BUILDING 



looked upon with patience, if not approval. In an important sense it may 
be said that the vocational idea is to be elaborated. The College wishes to hold 
itself in close touch and sympathy with those agencies which, taken together, 
make for progress and promote the public welfare. 

James Russell Lowell's statement that "A College is a place where nothing use- 
ful is studied" is totally without application to the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, which ought to be a place where nothing useless is 
taught. Here an effort is made to connect college work with the 
problems and requirements of everyday life. There is noth- 
ing in the college career that ought to set it off to itself. The whole institution is 
founded upon the principle that scientific and industrial training is as effective 
in producing the thinker and man of culture as were the long years of drill in the 



The Useful 
and Practical 




ACADEMIC SHADES 

7 




MONTGOMERY AGRICULTURAL HALL 

languages, literature, and history that characterized the old regime. The clas- 
sical ideal has been modified; it has been almost destroyed. The social conditions 
which permitted it are rapidly passing away. Education itself has become dem- 
ocratic, and there is a firm conviction that every man is entitled to the best oppor- 
tunities to gain it that the state can afford. 

The pursuit of useful and practical 
knowledge does not demand the neglect 
of language, literature, and the so-called 
humanities. These ought and do receive 
attention as a means to an end in educa- 
tion, but they are not allowed to become 
the only means or the sole end. More 
From the and more the scudent 

Student's seeks to make the best 

Viewpoint use f hj s college days in 

preparing to become a producing unit in 
society. The practical significance of 
his studies is a deep concern, and he 
rightfully feels that his time must be 
spent in a way that is wholly worth while. 
This is a tendency that needs little en- 
couragement from educators; it is but 
the persistent expression of demands 
growing out of the more complex rela- 
tions and conditions of the day. Men- 

8 










A I. WDM \RK 




THE NEW Y. M. C. A. BUILDING 



tal development and individual efficiency are in the minds of the present-day col- 
lege man, but mental development alone is not the academic goal. 

The foregoing is but a suggestion of the point of view of the A. 8s M. College. 
There is nothing essentially new in it, and yet many are so thoroughly indoc- 
trinated with the educational methods and ideals of a generation ago that it 
seems worth while to remind them that the college is keeping pace with the prog- 
ress of industrial society. The A. 8b M. College, like other institutions of its kind, 
recognizes that it has a special mission to perform. It intends to press forward 
with a steady purpose and a firm conviction until that mission is being fulfilled. 

The work of the College as a whole may be likened to an equilateral triangle : 
one side is Investigation; another is Education; and the third is Extension. 
Education itself rests upon research and investigation. With research it is 




LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD 
9 




LABORATORIES OF ELECTRICAL AND AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING 



Coordinated 
Effort 



coordinate. Taken together, education and research mean progress in human 
affairs. That the practical benefits resulting from this progress 
may be realized by the greatest number, there must be a means 
of carrying to those who can not come for it a knowledge of those 
things which have been found to increase the efficiency of the producer as well as 
those that contribute to a betterment of his home and community life. This is 
Extension. 

There must be a definite organization, of course, for the work of the three fun- 
damental functions of the institution. For a few years, the college concerned itself 
only with the instruction of the students that came to its doors. In these times, 
its organization was simple. Little research was undertaken, and its sphere of 
usefulness was restricted. Expansion came with increased facilities. In a 
short while the Agricultural Experiment Station was established through the 
munificence of the Federal Government, and organized research in agriculture 
began. 

But the authorities soon perceived 
that, however well the institution might 
train those young men of the state who 
were fortunate enough to become a part 
of its organization, and 
however basic and far- 
reaching the practical 
importance of the results obtained in the 
investigations of its experiment station, 
there still remained a wide gap in its 



The Farmer 
Included 








A MODEL BARN 



mission. "To benefit agriculture" it needed to broaden its influence. The 
farmer generally could not come to the college ; a beginning was made to carry 
some, at least, of the benefits of the college to the farmer. This marked the be- 




THE COLLEGE INFIRMARY 
1 1 



— 




A LIBRARY READING ROOM 



ginning of the Extension Service. The spasmodic nature of the work of the early- 
farmers' institutes was due only to a lack of funds for a comprehensive organiza- 
tion. "The Institutes" were conducted by Experiment Station officers and by 
college instructors during the vacation months and in term time when circum- 
stances permitted. The results of this work became apparent slowly, but interest 
within the institution and among the farming classes grew steadily. To-day a 
large organization of agricultural extension specialists is maintained. It would 
be difficult, we believe, to over-estimate the usefulness of this promising field of 
endeavor. 










UN nil'. ROCK ko\I) 
12 




THE OLD DORMITORY 



It will be generally admitted that the organization which the efficient admin- 
istration of the work of a large college or university requires is essentially com- 
plex. But this is not an educational institution alone: its duties do not begin, 
nor do they end, with the academic session; it proposes to extend its facilities 
in every helpful way to the industrial as well as the educational development in 
the state; in spirit it is, and more and more in fact it intends to become, a 
public service institution. There will be a tendency to expand 
its extension service; there must be a constant development 
in its educational functions; and the problems of its organization 
and the plans for its future will require the best thought and most conscient ous 
service of its officers. 

The academic work of the college is carried out under the direction of the sev- 
eral schools, each of which has its own faculty. The Director is the adminis- 
trative officer and the chairman of ts faculty. 



A Complex 
Organization 




A HEDGE IS ORNAMENTAL AS WELL As USEFUL 
1 3 




THE NEW DORMITORY 



The School of 
Agriculture 



Instruction in Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts was the basic idea in the 
establishment of these institutions. They became a part of the educational 
life of the country at a time when the development of agriculture as we know 
it to-day was only in its beginning. The founders themselves did not foresee the 
great influence which the colleges and experiment stations have 
exercised in the phenomenal progress in agriculture during the 
last thirty years. For many years this was essentially an 
agricultural college. There were no facilities for engineering work or instruc- 
tion. It is to the lasting credit of its early administrators that the meagre 
resources of the college were not scattered in several directions. The develop- 
ment of agriculture was its central idea. To this it steadfastly held. 

Agriculture itself is composite. The natural sciences form its foundation. 
Its practice is becoming more and more specialized. The "Professor of Agricul- 
The Old ture" of former years is now unknown. In his stead, there have 

Method and come professors of Agronomy, of Animal Husbandry, of Dairy- 
The New - m g^ f Horticulture, etc., and even these departments are 

sometimes subdivided and in charge of instructors devoting their entire time to 

some special branch or subdivision. 

The School of Agriculture has in its 
charge the work of the departments 
closely allied with the subject of agricul- 
ture as well as those giving instruction 
in its more important divisions mention- 
ed above. The courses in undergraduate 
and in graduate work are fully outlined 
in the college catalogue. 




.,JH ikiJH ■- ,h jMkm i in 





A QUIET LAKE 



The School of 
Engineering 



For many years the college was unable to fulfil properly even its more important 
functions, which were obvious enough to its officers, but which were impossible 
of fulfillment for lack of resources. Its work was confined to the field of agri- 
culture. In later years a modest beginning in instruction in engineering was 
undertaken. To-day 
the School of Engineer- 
ing is training many 
young men. The engineer has an im- 
portant mission even in a state devoted 
so largely to agriculture. It must be 
plain that industrial and economic inde- 
pendence can not be based safely, if at 
all, on agriculture alone. If agriculture 
is our largest industry, it ought by no 
means to be our only industry. Indus- 
trial progress must accompany agricul- 
tural development. 

Enduring and far-reaching prosperity 
and national independence will require 
the united efforts of agriculture and in- 
dustry, and the engineer is certain to 
take an increasingly important share in 
the development of our state as well as 
of the nation itself. A country with i N front of the chemical laboratory 




15 




LOOKING TOWARD MONTGOMERY HALL 



Engineering 
Training 



great natural resources like our own and with men trained in all lines of agricul- 
ture and in every division of engineering may turn its face to the future with a 
confidence that comes with the consciousness of power. But we must not forget 
that natural resources without the skill to make the most of them will not bring 
wealth or culture or happiness to a people. The College is engaged in develop- 
ing skilled men. That it is the duty of the State to use every endeavor to de- 
velop its resources in men is plain enough to require no emphasis here. 

The School of Engineering maintains its own organization. Its director 
is its administrative officer. Extended courses of instruction are provided in 
several great fields of Engineering, viz., mechanical, electrical, 
civil, and mining. The courses in engineering, like those in 
agriculture, are practical as well as theoretical. A seasoned 
engineer can not be produced by a four- or five-year college course, but a foun- 
dation may be laid and a beginning can be made. The duty of the State cer- 
tainly extends as far as this. The School of Engineering has charge of all the 
engineering work of the college. It is a unit in the system of vocational training. 
Young men who wish to become agriculturists or engineers have long found 
an opportunity here, but men are made in many moulds. The industries rest 

upon a foundation pro- 
vided by the sciences. It 
was the scientist that 
blazed the trail for the industrialist. It 
would be an impractical and narrow 
educator who would devise a system 
wherein training in the natural sciences 




The School of 
Science 




A CAMPUS SCENE 

is not fostered in every way. The civilization of the present day without the 
work of centuries of scientific development would not be conceivable. Notwith- 
standing the popular impression, research in pure science is practical; its useful 
applications are everywhere apparent. 

An institute of technology and a school of science go hand in hand. It is 
a trite expression that science is the handmaid of invention, and it is no less 
obvious that invention is the handmaid of industrial progress, 
Pure and Ap- with w h} c h this college is so vitally concerned. In an important 
plied Science ^^ ^ institution itself is composed of a collection of scientists. 
It is eminently proper— indeed, it is imperatively necessary— that a college of 
this kind be pervaded with the spirit of applied science. Let us remember 
that the pure science of to-day is the applied science of to-morrow. We do 
not wish to see it become an academic parasite; it ought to be a pioneer within 
its special sphere. This is an ideal which will nqt become obscured by mistaken 
notions of immediate practicality. 

The School of Science is in reality an institute of applied science. Training 

in the useful and practi- 
Spirit of the cal is the S p irit f t he 
Science School ^^ ^ ^ be hgld 

to its steady purpose, and no fear need 
be harbored anywhere that work of any 
kind will be undertaken at the public 
expense that is out of harmony with the 
broad purposes of the agricultural and 
mechanical college. The school is under 
the management of its own director. Its 
work is wholly satisfactory. 





STUDENTS, YOUNG AND OLD 



The Old Order 
and the New 



In the progress of human affairs, the useful preceded the cultural. In the de- 
velopment of academic training the cultural, in the main, preceded by many- 
centuries the useful and practical. In the domain of education, tradition and 
precedent became forces that have been overcome only slowly and with difficulty 
by the demands of modern conditions. Now, medicine, the law, and theology no 
longer dominate even the most conservative universities and colleges. The agri- 
cultural and mechanical colleges have been powerful factors in 
producing a new order. The revision was first confined most 
largely to college curricula. But the college is but an extension 
of the high school, and the high school of the grammar school. It is not sufficient 
that practical training be confined to the college. Most men, as yet, are never 
allowed the advantages of the colleges, and even a distressingly large percentage 
are denied the benefits of high schools. If education is a public duty, the kind of 
education that will most benefit the child, the youth, and the man in living a 
modern life is the highest public concern. In a word, the spirit which finds expres- 
sion in training in the useful and practical in college ought to extend throughout 
the entire educational system. 

Teachers and apostles for the new educational propaganda must be prepared. 
The College believes that it ought to contribute the use of its industrial and 
technological courses and departments to the preparation of teachers of agricul- 
ture and the mechanic arts in the schools. It seeks in this way 
to extend its usefulness in industrial education generally. It is 
not the training of a mere pedagogue with which it is con- 
cerned; it is more vitally interested in producing capable, practical men for 
schools giving work in agriculture and manual training. It should not and 

18 



Industrial 
Education 







A GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT 



The Purpose 
and Sphere 



does not intend to go farther than this. The training of teachers generally is not 
a function of the institution, but the making of industrial leaders is a part of 
its program. 

The foregoing indicates the need, fixes the sphere, and defines the single pur- 
pose of the School of Industrial Education. It hopes to supply a need which 

we believe to be a positive one; it will be held rigidly within its 

sphere and steadily true to the purpose which dominates it. 

This School is also a unit in the educational system of the Col- 
lege. In organization and in administration it is similar to the Schools of 
Agriculture and Engineering. 

This is an institution which finds itself engaged primarily in vocational training. 
It seeks to produce a sympathetic environment wherein preparation for a 

definite career will find emphasis and constant encouragement. 

^. C *VJ? im ' The old colleges took no part in the basic purposes of this new 
Fixed Purpose ... ,, , , , 

institution. A college career and a life career are closely re- 
lated. Useless sowing in college is little better than the proverbial planting of 
wild oats in early life. It is too much to expect the aimless college man immedi- 
ately to equip himself with the dominating purposes of a life career when the 
college doors are closed behind him at commencement; he will not do it; the 
purposeless habit will have taken possession of him. He who overcomes it is 
stronger than the average man. The student of the A. 8b M. College is encour- 
aged on every hand to adopt a career in early life, and he is required to pursue 
a course that looks to this end. 

There are many advantages in choosing a profession early and in preparing 
for it systematically. Much time may be saved, and habits of thoroughness, 

l 9 




A WALK THROUGH THE CAMPUS 



accuracy, and industry can be so firmly formed that these will become faithful 
servants throughout life. In the modern college, there is scarcely a niche for 
the aimless student, just as the complex life of to-day holds no place for the pur- 
poseless man. 

Many generations of able pedagogues for many centuries did not find 
it possible to reach a conclusion as to what knowledge is most worth 
while. The subjects selected by these early educators, when looked upon 
from the modern point of view, probably appear better adapted for a 
learned aristocracy than for an every day industrial democracy such as ours. 
Vocational The culture it produced had no relation to the economic basis 

Training and up0 n which it was to rest. The cultured man of the old school, 
Liberal Culture .,..,,,, , . , , 

Not Antago- hke the common individual, had need for the necessities and even 

nist,c luxuries which his so-called culture did not help him to earn. The 

tendency was toward the production of industrial parasites. The fact is there is no 
antagonism between the useful and the so-called cultural subjects of study. Learn- 
ing and labor are complementary. They must be united for the good of both. 
Recent events bring us strongly to suspect that there is some relation between 
educational policy and economic independence. Nothing is plainer than the 
fact that the changed conditions of the present day demand modified preparation 
to meet them. The elective and prescribed courses at the A. & M. College are 
designed to meet in a practical way the responsibility resting upon an institution 
established for industrial training. 

The Agricultural and Mechanical College is committed to vocational training; 
it would bring its academic program in close touch with the complex requirements 
of the daily lives of men, and it sees an ideal in the college career that develops 

20 




A TOWER VIEW OF HORTICULTURAL GROUNDS 



Liberal Cul- 
ture Provided 



the character and ability to meet these requirements properly. It is founded 
upon a belief in the necessity of providing an economic basis for 
all culture, and it seeks to encourage individual efficiency and 
to train the producer. But the lives of men are not wholly 
occupied with scientific and practical pursuits, and the college courses are not 
entirely composed of scientific and industrial studies. The good citizen and 
practical man needs now as much as ever the benefits that come with a knowledge 
of government, economics, and social studies; the inspiration to be derived 
from the history of human accomplishments; and the pleasures and refinement 
that follow an appreciation of language, literature, and art. 



21 



AGRONOMY 



The course in Agronomy is designed to familiarize students with the principles 
underlying productive soils and plant growth. The soil is our greatest resource, 
and the maintenance of its fertility is of prime consideration. Plant, animal, 
and human life depend directly or indirectly upon the physical, chemical, and 
biological conditions found in the soil. 

The application of economic business principles to crop husbandry is, then, 
of great importance. The fundamentals of successful soil management should 
be understood by every farmer. College instruction concerning soils and plants 
may not make a man practical — neither will the lack of it do so — but such train- 
ing will give a practical man knowledge about basic agricultural facts, which will 
render his work more remunerative, as well as more attractive. 

The work of the department of Agronomy exemplifies the fact that that instruc- 
tion is best which brings the student into a close and sympathetic touch with the 
vital problems of life. Today people are seeking education not so much as a cul- 
tural embellishment, but as a weapon against want. There is just as much 
genuine culture in learning how to maintain a productive soil and to grow im- 
proved plants at a minimum cost, as there is in learning to read how the Greeks 
and Romans lived. 

The course of instruction in this department is given to (1) the four-year 
students in agriculture, (2) two-year course students, (3) graduate students, 
(4) correspondence students in agriculture, and (5) students of the farmer's 
short course in agriculture. The work as outlined is embraced under the follow- 
ing heads: elements of agriculture, soils, soil fertility, grasses and forage crops, 
farm crops, first principles of agriculture, crop and soil improvement, fertilizers 
and legumes, plant breeding, and farm management. The work for graduate 
students specializing in advanced work in agronomy is outlined in detail in the 
annual college catalog. The free correspondence course in Agronomy, which 
many farmers are now taking advantage of, is outlined under the following heads: 
(1) soils and soil fertility, (2) grain crops, (3) preparation of the seed bed, (4) 
clover and grasses (5) grain crops, and (6) hays and silage crops. Special at- 
tention is called to the value of this correspondence work. This department 
gives its work by means of text -books and lectures, supplemented by practical 
demonstration in the seed and crops laboratory, soils laboratory, greenhouse, 
demonstration farm plats, experiment plats, and on the college farm. 

The work of this department has been made thoroughly practical. It en- 
deavors to show, and have the student work with, every type of soil and every 
agricultural plant studied. The aim is to prepare young men to solve the prac- 
tical problems of farm life, and to fit them for educational and research work. 
The usefulness of this department is limited only by the funds available for the 
maintenance and extension of the work. 

22 



ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



If it be true that agriculture is the basis of our prosperity it is equally true 
that Animal Husbandry is inseparable from profitable agriculture; this is evi- 
denced by the fact that live stock play an important part in all farming operations 
where lands are high in value. The reasons for this are that farm animals pro- 
vide the most economical way of utilizing many farm products and at the same 
time of effectively building up the fertility of the soil. Important as is the 
sphere of the agronomist and agricultural engineer in the production of crops, 
it remains for the animal husbandman skillfully and scientifically to weave those 
crops into highly concentrated marketable products; such as, beef, mutton, pork, 
butter, and milk. 

As a solution to the problem of keeping boys on the farm it is difficult to 
conceive of a better plan than to provide facilities so that the boy may help de- 
velop and care for farm animals that he is directly interested in, and this is 
equally true whether it be intended for him to specialize in Animal Husbandry 
or to engage in general farming. 

Since it is impossible to teach Animal Husbandry in the class room alone, 
the college farm is well equipped with the leading breeds of horses, cattle, and 
hogs. 

If the student is interested in mule breeding, which should be carried on more 
extensively in this state, he has the opportunity of studying this problem on the 
college farm with the large number of different types of mares kept for mule rais- 
ing, thus demonstrating the principles laid down in the class room. 

Besides representatives of the various breeds of dairy cattle there are a number 
of pure bred cattle of the leading beef breeds, such as, Aberdeen Angus, Short- 
horn, and Herefords, and the student can see for himself what is possible in the 
way of grading up common or scrub cattle by the use of pure bred sires for beef 
purposes. 

Special attention is also paid to hog raising, and such breeds as Berkshire, 
Poland China, Duroc Jersey, and Chester White are in evidence here, giving the 
student an opportunity carefully to weigh over for himself the advantages and 
disadvantages of these different breeds. 

In view of the fact that the population of this country is increasing much faster 
in proportion than the supply of farm animals, with a consequent upward trend 
in the price of live stock products, and of the further fact that the foreign 
markets are hungry for such products whenever we are in a position to supply 
them, there is a bright future assured to the business. 

With her wonderful natural advantages, excelled by none, Mississippi bids 
fair to become in the near future one of the leading live stock states in the union, 
and the prosperous farmer of the future will be the man who skillfully combines 
Animal Husbandry with his farm operations. 

24 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING 

Agricultural Engineering deals with all the engineering problems that confront 
the farmer; such as, the location and erection of farm buildings, the selection 
and installation of farm motors, the use and care of farm machinery, proper 
methods of irrigation and drainage, rural sanitation, and the building and main- 
tenance of good roads. 

Every student in the agricultural school of the College must take work in this 
department before graduation. To be a thoroughly modern farmer who is to 
get the most out of his land he must not only know about seed, the soil, farm 
animals, etc., but he must also have a working knowledge of the mechanical 
agencies by which he is to make farming profitable and farm life enjoyable. 
Mississippi farmers spend $2,500,000 a year for farm machinery and $8,000,000 
a year for farm buildings, and it is very important that they spend these immense 
sums judiciously. 

The student in his first year of college work is taught how to operate the 
different farm machines. He is required to put on overalls, get out in the fields, 
and actually run the machines. Later in his college course he studies the differ- 
ent kinds and makes of farm implements, and how to survey the land and put 
in tile drains. 

In cooperation with the College Extension Division, the department assists 
the farmers of the state with their agricultural engineering problems. Men are 
sent out to help build silos, to advise in the location of farm buildings, to aid in 
putting in tile drainage and in building terraces. Blue prints of farm buildings 
of desired types are sent free of charge to the farmers of the State. Through 
letters answering inquiries from all over the State for information and advice, 
the department is able to extend its usefulness to a marked degree. 

The equipment, consisting of farm machinery of different types and makes, 
farm motors, testing apparatus, farm building models, and library, is modern 
and in good condition, although rather limited for present needs. It is hoped 
that the equipment and instruction force can be enlarged, as soon as funds are 
available, to keep pace with the increased number of students in the courses and 
the rapid growth of the extension work of the department. 



26 




K^*/4v~-**\^^. 



BACTERIOLOGY 

Bacteriology is one of the younger sciences. This year, for the first time, it 
is being taught in every agricultural college in the United States. In all but a 
few it holds the rank of a department; in a few it is still connected with botany 
and veterinary science. 

The importance of bacteriology is seen in the relation of bacteria to every 
day life. The science of medicine and antiseptic surgery rests upon the knowl- 
edge of bacteriology, as do also hygiene and sanitation. 

In the arts bacteria play a most important part — in butter and cheese making, 
in the manufacture of vinegar, the tanning of leather, the retting of flax, and the 
curing of tobacco. 

The farmer depends almost entirely upon bacteria with legumes to increase 
his soil nitrogen and to transform the organic manures to soluble plant foods. 
The best means of growing legumes, of putting the soil in condition — liming, 
draining, and tiling — the kind of legumes to grow, are all problems that depend 
upon knowledge of bacteria for their solution. The greatest limitation to stock 
raising in the South is the diseases to which farm animals are subject. The 
prevention and cure of these depend very largely upon our science. 

The sanitary engineer must take into account the science of bacteriology for 
his methods of installing water and sewerage systems. 

As a cultural subject bacteriology is equal to any of the other sciences. The 
technique is of such a nature that it gives splendid mental training, and the extent 
of the subject reaches into practically every science. It has no superior in train- 
ing one to be expert in precision and detail. 

The courses given include general bacteriology, covering the technique and 
theory of the subject; soil bacteriology; the study of bacteria related to soils 
and crop production; dairy bacteriology; veterinary bacteriology; sanitary bac- 
teriology, dealing with the bacteria in water and sewage systems; and elemen- 
tary bacteriology, which deals with the bacteria related to agriculture. Students 
doing graduate work, undertake problems of original research. 

Our equipment, though limited, is ample for good laboratory work. 



28 



BOTANY AND FORESTRY 

It is the aim of this department to acquaint students with plants and the 
fundamental principles which govern their life processes. Courses re planned 
to awaken an interest in the plant world, to give some technical knowledge of 
plants such as is needed in a well rounded education, and to give certain training 
which will be helpful in growing plants on the farm or in carrying on work in the 
different lines of plant industry. 

This department gives work to students from three of the four schools of the 
college; namely, the School of Agriculture, the School of General Science, and 
the School of Industrial Education. Naturally the student who is to go back 
to the farm and work with plants is given special attention. 

The students of agriculture are given such work in botany and forestry as 
will be of the greatest importance to them in the production of plants. Stress 
is laid upon the structure and nature of seeds, conditions favoring germination, 
growth of plants, and development of flowers and fruits. Work is also given in 
collecting and identifying local wild plants. Instruction is given in the prin- 
ciples of plant physiology, plant morphology, and in the diseases of plants due 
to fungi, with the methods of control. 

The students from the School of General Science are given more technical 
training in morphological, physiological, and structural botany. Theory is 
stressed more with them. 

Industrial Education students are given a brief survey of the plant world. 
This is a basic course for further study of the subject, or to fit them for ele- 
mentary teaching in high schools. 

In addition to the required courses, we offer to advanced students several 
elective courses. The number taking these courses is increasing each year. We 
also offer work leading to the degree of Master of Science, which is arranged by 
consultation with the applicant. 

The outlook for the department is very bright. People are beginning to real- 
ize more and more the need for information about such commonplace things 
as plants. We are striving to make our department reach as many people as 
possible, besides our students, and to be of increasing service to the people of 
the state. The results are encouraging, and possibilities for good in the future 
are unlimited. 



30 



CHEMISTRY 

The science of chemistry possesses a fascinating history. The record of its 
accomplishments is closely linked with our industrial progress. Its aid has been 
sought by all of the natural sciences. The rapid development of agriculture was 
made possible largely through chemical researches which have contributed so 
much in explanation of plant and animal growth, and the subject must be con- 
sidered a basic one by the student of agriculture, for its facts and principles find 
important application in practically all of the sciences that contribute to a broad 
comprehension of agriculture as we know it today. 

The agronomist finds his work based upon a knowledge of the chemistry of 
soils, fertilizers, and plant development. The animal husbandman requires at 
the very outset of his work a thorough understanding of the chemistry and com- 
position of feeding stuffs, and it is not less important also that he acquaint himself 
with the chemistry of the metabolic processes occurring in the animal body. 
Chemistry is found also at the foundation of the dairy industry; it is obviously 
a subject of first importance in veterinary medicine; and its literature is in con- 
stant use by the zoologist, the botanist, and the geologist. 

In the field of engineering, the chemist is everywhere taking a share in the 
rapid development that is being brought about. Scarcely an important industry 
can now be found that is free of chemical control. Very largely through its 
assistance, the empiricisms and rule-of-thumb methods that have come down 
to us through inheritance are being replaced by the certainties which the prin- 
ciples of science bring to the industries. 

It is plain enough that chemistry is an aid to most industries, but it is prob- 
ably not so well recognized that some very important ones have been created out- 
right by it. It is no unusual occurrence today to see waste material converted 
into valuable products. Far-reaching improvements in the chemical processes 
of mining and manufacture are witnessed each year, and the chemical engineer 
of the future is certain to take a position of first importance in our industrial 
development. 

Aside from its useful applications, the study of chemistry lends itself effect- 
ively to the broad purpose of the educator. The subject possesses a two-fold 
object in the college curriculum. Every college man should know something of 
the elementary principles of chemistry, while students of agriculture and engi- 
neering must spend more time necessarily on courses bearing directly upon their 
major work. The department of Chemistry has always taken a keen interest 
also in training young men for careers as professional chemists. 

The duties of the department are not confined to instructional work alone. 

Its entire organization is in close sympathy with the wish of the institution as 

a whole to extend its facilities in every helpful way in the public service. To this 

end, the analytical department is constantly engaged in work of the most varied 

character for citizens of the state. 

32 



DAIRY DEPARTMENT 



Mississippi is essentially an agricultural state. Diversification and rotation 
of crops are considered necessary for success in farming and for retention of soil 
fertility. Live stock must be kept on the farm in order to provide for a profit- 
able use of many farm products. Dairy farming is recognized as one of the 
highest branches of farming and demands intelligence, training, and skill for its 
successful practice. 

There are three systems used by the department in giving instruction: 1. 
Instruction to regular and short course students of the college; 2. Investiga- 
tion of dairy problems and the dissemination of the truths obtained through 
bulletins and correspondence; 3. Demonstration and extension work. 

This department has arranged its courses of study for the student so that it 
shall perform its part in the training of intelligent farmers and dairymen, not 
simply that they make a better living, but rather that they may be leaders in 
making agriculture in its different branches a live, progressive art, and thus 
provide a more satisfactory basis for thrifty, intelligent, refined, and happy 
communities. 

The Dairy Department has under its supervision all work connected with the 
dairy herd, the dairy farm, and the dairy. The dairy herd contains over two 
hundred head of animals, nearly half of which are pure breds, and all inferior 
cows are being sold. The standard of the herd is being raised each year. Sev- 
eral Jersey cows have given six gallons each a day and one Holstein-Friesian cow 
has given a little over ten gallons of milk in a day. These were all bred and 
raised by the department. This herd has been handled on a badly worn farm 
of about four hundred acres, and it has made it possible so to increase the fer- 
tility of the soil that now practically every acre produces profitable crops, whereas 
only a few acres would do this ten years ago. This improvement of the herd and 
land has been paid for out of the proceeds from the herd. 

The dairy building is equipped with modern appliances for handling the milk 
and cream from the department herd and from the herds of patrons of the 
Cooperative Creamery Association. Steam separators, churns, and butter- 
making machines are in daily operation, furnishing valuable object lessons 
to the students in the proper care and management of the products. 



:u 









THE A. & M. COLLEGE COOPERATIVE CREAMERY 

This creamery was established for the purpose of determining whether or not 
such creameries would prove profitable in the State. The Dairy Department 
realized that if they could be made to pay, cooperative creameries would do more 
to develop the dairy industry of the State than any other agent. 

Under the management of the Dairy Department, the cooperative creamery 
was started with nineteen patrons furnishing about three thousand pounds of 
butter fat per month. After two and one-half years, there are now over one 
hundred patrons supplying milk from about fifteen hundred cows. The income 
is between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. The results have been so satisfactory 
that the venture has been declared a success, and the management turned over 
to the Cooperative Creamery Association. The patrons bear all the expenses, 
no part of which is paid out of college funds. 

With the success of this creamery assured, we have been able to give informa- 
tion that has resulted in the establishment of a number of other creameries in 
the State, all of which are doing well. The information secured has also made 
it possible for us to prevent creameries from being established where failure would 
almost surely result. The Dairy Department is ready to assist each of the cream- 
eries in every way possible, and will help organize others where conditions indi- 
cate that they will succeed. 



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HORTICULTURE 

Horticulture: "The Poetry of Agriculture" 

"The Art that doth mend Nature." 

Horticulture: The science which treats of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental 
plants ; the art which applies the principles involved in propagating, cultivating, 
and otherwise caring for garden and orchard crops and ornamental plantings. 

Few, if any, subjects are so well adapted to the work of skillfully training 
the hand, the head, the heart. None appeals more directly to the five senses. 
No subject is better calculated to cultivate habits of close observation and at- 
tention to details, nor better suited to the work of increasing the power of con- 
centrating thought and stimulating the investigating spirit. 

Whether considered as a potent factor in industrial training, or in education 
in general, or in its relation to the practical problems in agriculture, the study 
of horticulture naturally demands careful study of geology, physiography, bac- 
teriology, chemistry, botany, entomology, and other fundamental sciences in 
our educational system. 

While agriculture, as the term is commonly used, concerns itself with ex- 
tended areas usually remote from the dwelling, horticulture restricts itself to 
smaller areas and is more intimately associated with the home. The terms hor- 
ticulture and home are inseparable. In fact, it is in the home that horticulture 
finds expression and its real setting. It plays a most important part in home 
building, not only in the country, but also in the village, the town, and the city. 

The department of Horticulture offers courses in The Principles of Propa- 
gating Plants from Seeds, Cuttings, Layers, Buds, Grafts, etc.; The Home 
Garden; The Home Orchard; Commercial Horticulture; Beautifying School 
and Home Grounds; Landscape Designing; and in Research Work. 

The equipment includes a laboratory, a library, greenhouses, hotbeds, cold 
frames, garden, nursery, orchard, ornamental grounds, etc. 

Instruction is not limited to college students alone. Through correspond- 
ence, bulletins, the press, extension service, and by actual demonstrations on 
school and home grounds thousands of school children and grown-ups are being 
reached. The department expects to continue to develop; there are plans for 
its expansion that await only the funds for carrying them out. 



38 



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MARKETS AND RURAL ECONOMICS 

Had the human family always conserved its energies and avoided all waste, 
we would have the material for a supreme civilization, and drudgery would be 
unknown. 

We call attention to four divisions of our work : 

1. The average cost of distribution equals the average cost of production. 
It is one of the functions of the department of Markets and Rural Economics 
to help prepare the coming generation for the mastery of their work, so directed 
as to eliminate waste of time, money, and energy. 

One phase of this division is to study the farmers' exchange. 

2. Better business methods have been applied in all lines of industry more 
than in the distribution of farm products. 

To aid in preparing the farmers of the future for better business is one of the 
features of this department. 

Specifically comparing the farmer's business methods with the methods of 
the most successful of the business world is one of the features of this division: 
accounting, standardizing, carrying, exchanges, etc. 

3. Agricultural financing is a problem yet unsolved in America. To reach 
efficiency in production and distribution, an adequate system of financing must 
be had. 

To bring the study of this vital issue to the student is another task of this 
department. This involves the study of the rural credits and cooperative 
banking systems of the world. 

4. Rural life as a whole is uninviting to the ambitious youths of our land 
who must choose their career. These youths are the country's greatest asset. 
If our rural citizenship is to be the reliance of the republic, as it has been in the 
past, we must build a rural civilization approaching their dreams of a full and 
complete life. 

The study of rural life in all its essentials, with a view of developing the high- 
est quality of rural citizenship, and reaching the highest social efficiency, is a 
large part of the work with which we are deeply concerned. 

This branch involves the study of rural surveys, social centers, leadership, 
intellectual ideals, economic conveniences, communication, transportation, etc. 



40 



POULTRY HUSBANDRY 

The object of this department is to give instruction in this branch of live stock 
and to carry on experimental work with poultry. No course in agricultural train- 
ing would be complete without a systematic training in poultry. One of the most 
important functions of agriculture is to feed the world, and no meal is complete 
without the use of the product of the poultry yard. 

This subject correlates closely with the general farm, the dairy farm, and the 
truck farm. The waste from the general farm will support a flock of hens to 
supply the home table, while the waste milk from the dairy and the waste veg- 
etables from the truck farm can be turned into profits through the hens. Again, 
the waste from the hens will enrich the soil. 

The courses of instruction in this department bring out in detail and show by 
demonstration how this branch of live stock can be made to supply more food 
for the home and a surplus to add to the cash income of the farm. The first 
course deals with the fundamental principles on which success of farm poultry 
is based; the second goes into detail in breeding, incubating, brooding, feeding, 
and housing; and the third takes up successful marketing, based on grading 
and marketing what the markets want in the way they want it. 

The usefulness of this department is not limited to the training given the 
students in college. The instructor travels hundreds of miles, and instructs 
thousands of people every year in the better management and more intelligent 
marketing of poultry and poultry products. Thousands of letters are answered 
each year, giving instruction helpful to the farmer. 

The department is equipped with poultry houses of the latest type, coops, 
yards, incubators, brooders, a work shop, a feed house, and a brooder house. 
The stock consists of fifteen breeds and varieties of chickens, ducks, geese, and 
turkeys. 

The usefulness of the department is growing rapidly. From the increased 
interest manifested by the students and from the inquiries received from farmers 
over Mississippi, we assume that this department will render far more service 
in the future than it has given in the past. 



■4 2 



VETERINARY SCIENCE 

Veterinary medicine is taught as a part of the course offered in the School of 
Agriculture. It consists of theoretical and practical work of use to the stockman 
in preventing contagious and infectious diseases, and in nursing animals suffering 
from diseases or from accident. 

The work of this department correlates with nearly every department in the 
Agricultural School, in as much as it is necessary to grow proper foods, recognize 
poisonous plants and insect pests, diagnose diseases of animals, make use of 
bacteriological aid to determine the nature of the disease, and the chemist must 
assist in determining mineral and vegetable poisons. 

It is necessary that people should understand the selection and practical use 
of healthy animals, and also the means of keeping them healthy and productive, 
and this education is one of the essential features in connection with our work here. 

While instructional work is very essential in a course of this kind, special 
attention is paid at all times to the practical part of the work, and young men 
taking this course are required to apply the knowledge that they secure in the 
class room to actual work on the farm. 

Students are instructed specially in the vaccination of hogs against cholera, 
and also in preventive measures against other diseases of live stock. 

Any intelligent and cultured man will appreciate the necessity of general, 
sanitary, and other measures adopted to keep animals healthy, and while it is 
not the special aim to make specialists in this line of work, yet the instruction 
that students receive here enables them to handle diseases of animals intelligently 
and to know when to secure expert assistance. 

Several courses of one term each are offered to agricultural men that have had 
the preliminary or required training to follow the work. Some of these courses are 
electives. It is always a pleasure to give special instruction to those wishing to 
secure knowledge along certain lines. There is an exceptionally good building 
and equipment provided for the work. 

The future of the department of Veterinary Science is brighter now than it 
has been at any time in the history of the college, for the reason that the people 
of this commonwealth are turning their attention to raising live stock, and the 
health of the animals is very necessary to the success of the prospective breeder. 



44 



- ' JHHB 





ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 

Zoology is the science that treats of animals. Because of its cultural and 
practical value, it is represented in all colleges. Entomology is the science 
that treats of a particular group of animals, the insects. Every plant that 
grows has its insect enemies; all domesticated and wild animals have their 
insect parasites; even man himself is subject to the attacks of various insects. 
On the other hand great numbers of insects are of the highest benefit to man; 
many plants can not produce seeds without the visitations of insects; and the 
honey bee adds millions of dollars to the wealth of the country each year. 
Because of the importance of a knowledge of insect life to the farmer, many 
agricultural colleges have separate departments of Entomology. 

Our aim is to give students a broader vision of life, by increasing their knowl- 
edge of and an interest in all the living creatures about them. Special attention 
is given to insects and other animals of economic importance. The students 
learn to recognize the beneficial insects and how to control those that are inju- 
rious. Although we do not have the necessary equipment and force of instruct- 
ors to turn out expert entomologists, each year a few of our men go into govern- 
ment or state positions in Entomology, and many of them are achieving success. 

In Experiment Station work, this department carries on investigation in 
regard to life histories, habits, and control of insect pests. At present special 
study is being made of the insects affecting pecans, of the peach tree borer, of 
the scale insect of Mississippi, and of the crawfish of Mississippi. 

A state law requires the Entomologist to inspect the nurseries of the state 
each year, and to have charge of the inspection of plants shipped into Mississippi. 
As no money has ever been appropriated for this work, we can devote only two 
or three months each year to it. It is police work of great importance. The farm- 
ers of Mississippi have already lost thousands of dollars by purchasing diseased 
fruit trees. Mississippi is probably the only state in this country that has not 
made financial provision for carrying on this important work for the protection 
of farmers. 

From every county in Mississippi letters come to us asking for information 
concerning particular insect pests. All these inquiries are definitely and care- 
fully answered. Thousands of people of the state have received assistance in 
this manner. 



46 



■ : -' 




ENGLISH 

The work in English at the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College 
has a two-fold object: to give the student a practical knowledge of English com- 
position, and to foster in him some appreciation of the beauties of literature. 
With this double object, the department fills two great vacuums in the general 
scheme of industrial education. It attempts to instil in each student the prin- 
ciples of composition by continual practice in writing and speaking, and to 
polish off the rough surfaces of a purely technical training by requiring each 
student to read the works of acknowledged masters of composition. 

In an institution of this kind foreign languages, both living and dead, give 
way to the trades and sciences, but the study of his own tongue is always recog- 
nized as necessary to every student. Without a practical knowledge of his native 
language the engineer cannot make a clear report to his superior; the agricultur- 
ist cannot make good records of his experiences for the benefit of his neighbors 
and posterity; the school teacher cannot hold the respect of his community; 
the professional man rarely, if ever, can obtain a lucrative practice. 

To express one's ideas clearly one must have a knowledge of the laws of com- 
position. Indeed, men who have not made a study of composition have been 
known to become great writers, but their greatness was not due to their lack of 
training. The average man does not want to become a Shakespeare or a Milton; 
he merely needs to know how to express himself clearly, forcibly, and attract- 
ively, and to read appreciatively the best of our great literature. 

The study of literature is a great aid to the study of composition. In the 
latter the student learns the principles of clear and forcible writing and speaking, 
and in some measure puts those principles into practice in his own work. But 
in studying literature he sees how those principles have been employed by the 
greatest masters of language, and hence gains an increased appreciation of the 
value of those principles. 

The department seeks in every way to facilitate the work of the individual 
student in both composition and literature. For this purpose a special library 
has been established. This library contains many valuable works of reference, 
many duplicate copies of the works of standard authors, and a number of maps 
and pictures, the use of which tends to broaden the student's view of life in 
general. 



4 8 




PUBLIC DISCOURSE 

"You've got to fight for success" — and Practical Discourse is your greatest 
weapon ! 

This weapon is given to the student of the Mississippi A. and M. College by 
the department of Public Discourse. 

The department of Public Discourse trains students in the language of their 
vocation — in the language of industrial life. As the closest ally of the other de- 
partments of the college, it teaches the students how to study, assists them in 
gathering information, and trains them to win success by imparting this infor- 
mation to others through practical writing and business talk. 

The courses of study, distinctive of this department, include vocational lit- 
erature, business writing, and common-sense speaking, — all of which have hith- 
erto been neglected by every school of the State. 

In order to master the subject-matter of their vocation, the students read 
the most practical literature. Hoard's Dairyman, The Southern Farm Gazette, 
The Manufacturer's Record, Manual Arts, The Teacher's Journal, Science, 
Survey, The Atlantic, and The Nation are typical of the current periodicals 
read. Bulletins of the United States departments are used. The course in 
Public Service requires close reading of practical literature. 

To make scientific knowledge useful — hence to assist the student and promote 
all academic departments — courses in vocational writing are given by the de- 
partment of Public Discourse. The course in Business Correspondence offers 
the students of the Engineering, the Agricultural — in fact, of every school — 
their opportunity to learn to write applications, orders, circulars, follow-up 
letters. The courses in Public Writing and Civil Service Composition offer 
very practical opportunities. 

For the same purpose, courses in Practical Speaking are given by the depart- 
ment. In the course designated Business Conversation, the students learn 
to talk man to man — tactfully, persuasively — "to win." In the course enti- 
tled Debate and Persuasion, they prepare to convince the public audience on 
business and public questions. In other courses — such as Agricultural Speaking 
— they learn to organize and conduct public meetings and to talk, as farm or 
civic leaders, on vocational topics: the silo, winter cover crops, commercial 
fertilizer, good roads, consolidated schools. 

Eminently and distinctively practical is the department of Public Discourse. 
It assists the students in their debates and in their publications. It helps the 
other departments make current industrial knowledge, the yeast of Mississippi 
life, through news articles and public addresses. Through the Course for 
Teachers it does much to adapt the language work of the elementary schools 
to the needs of our people. Through correspondence and personal advice it 
assists local communities in organizing debating clubs, libraries, and other agen- 
cies promotive of industrial culture. 

4 9 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION 

The primary object of physical education is the development of a boy — men- 
tally, morally, and physically. Over-development in any of these lines is not 
desirable and can not be had without detriment to the others. 

A sound sturdy body, with due attention daily to keeping it in repair, necessi- 
tates a clean mind and a strong will power. This combination enables the pos- 
sessor to become a successful leader in solving the industrial problems of his 
day. 

The department of Physical Training offers opportunity for every student to 
obtain recreation in healthful exercise. In his freshman year he may receive 
a thorough examination, which will give him a definite aim for improvement 
each year. 

By regulation of the faculty all students are required to complete in a satis- 
factory manner one year's work in this department. 

It is recognized by the highest authorities in educational circles that the hand, 
eye, and mind must be trained simultaneously. In recreative exercises and com- 
petitive games this threefold coordination is obtained, and the boy with sound 
intuitive judgment in play will be equally sound in his judgment of scientific, 
agricultural, and engineering problems. 

The most valuable asset developed in this department is the sense of coopera- 
tion derived from team work. Cooperation in playing games teaches the value 
of sympathetic cooperation in other fields of service. 

Our purpose, in harmony with that of the various other departments in col- 
lege, is to produce a good citizen of average culture as distinguished from the 
specialist. 

While Mississippi A. & M. has representative teams with a higher average 
ranking than any other institution in the South engaged in inter-collegiate sports, 
much attention is given to inter-class contests, thus permitting every student 
the privilege of competition. A reasonable period of training under competent 
instruction is required before teams are selected, and no boy is allowed to play 
if unsound physically. 

Courses are offered in gymnastics, football, basket ball, baseball, track and 
field athletics, cross-country running, and tennis. Elective work is given to 
advanced students who expect to take charge of high school athletics or play- 
ground supervision. This field of service is growing rapidly and affords a splen- 
did opportunity for advancement. 

The equipment comprises two athletic fields, a quarter-mile cinder track, 
numerous tennis courts, indoor and outdoor gymnasium apparatus. 

Increasing demands for graduates who can serve intelligently as coaches of 

teams and directors of recreation work in schools and cities and the ever increasing 

necessity for better citizens, trained to public welfare work, assure a bright future 

for this department. 

50 



HISTORY AND CIVICS 

All educational training should have in view this definite end: The training 
of individual men and women capable of self-support, capable of further self- 
culture, and capable of a proper adjustment of themselves to the community life 
about them. The Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College has in mind 
the accomplishment of this threefold aim. 

In the industrial and scientific departments, self-support and further self- 
culture are stressed. On the other hand, the department of history and civics 
has to do mainly with such a training of the men as will enable them the better 
to adjust themselves to the community life about them. No attempt is made 
to produce specialists in history, political economy, or government. 

Men of all classes are called upon in life to pass upon important governmental 
and social questions. The plain everyday man, no matter what his vocation, 
decides on questions of most vital concern to himself and to those about him. He 
says whether or not there shall be a system of good roads throughout the land. 
He passes upon the questions of rural credit and rural schools. He fixes the stand- 
ard of law enforcement. Indeed, it is the plain citizen, with the civic, cultural, 
and ethical standards that his training has evolved, who, in the final case, makes 
the country what it is. 

For light in passing upon such questions, experience must be the guide. 
Patrick Henry said, "I have no other light by which my feet are guided but the 
lamp of experience." As with Henry, so it is with the men of today, light comes 
through experience alone, and experience can be obtained only in men's lives 
or through knowledge of the achievements and institutions of others. In recog- 
nition of this truth, courses are given in history, political economy, and govern- 
ment. 

The courses in history include treatments of general history, English history 
and American history. The purpose is to give the student such a knowledge of 
world history as will enable him the better to understand, appreciate, and en- 
joy American institutions. 

The courses in political economy deal mainly with the principles of the sub- 
ject. Courses have recently been added in taxation and finance. The courses 
in government or political science are designed to give some familiarity with 
organization and operation of American governmental institutions, both state and 
national, and to make some comparison of American government with the govern- 
ments of other great nations. Detailed statements concerning all of these courses 
may be found in the college catalogue. 



:.2 



nilll! N! HUM. I! ■:■! ■: '-:■ - 




MATHEMATICS 

Mathematics may be defined as the science of quantities. It is one of the 
oldest and best known of the exact sciences, and ranks high among the import- 
ant fields of study for developing mental strength, and accuracy in attaining and 
presenting truths. 

Through the mastery of principles and methods and the continuous discipline 
to which he is subjected in the various courses, the student learns to think logi- 
cally, to originate, to discriminate between the true and the false. 

In the solution of mathematical problems accuracy in method and detail is 
absolutely necessary, and the training thus acquired is invaluable to men in 
every calling. 

To the student who expects to pursue the scientific and technical branches 
of learning a command of the subject matter of mathematics is essential. The 
truths acquired in the courses of study are not learned merely to be forgotten 
but to be applied in problems involved in all engineering and other scientific 
work. The mechanical, the civil, the mining, the electrical, the chemical engi- 
neer, — all must rely upon their acquired knowledge of mathematics as funda- 
mental in the practice of their professions. 

The courses of study offered by the department are as varied and complete 
as the requirements seem to demand. Beginning with plane and solid geometry 
in the freshman class, the work passes successively through advanced algebra, 
trigonometry, analytic geometry, and calculus (differential and integral), to 
analytic mechanics, advanced analytic geometry, and advanced calculus (differ- 
ential and integral). In each course the student is required to be accurate and 
thorough in his demonstrations and careful and precise in his language. 



54 



CIVIL ENGINEERING AND DRAWING 

Engineering is the direction and control of the forces and materials of nature 
for the economic use and benefit of mankind; or, as someone has said, "Engi- 
neering is the art of doing, in a short time and with a small amount of money, 
what any fool could do if he had all the time and money he wanted." 

To the uninitiated, it sometimes seems that engineering instruction is out of 
place in a school supported by a state whose interests are largely agricultural; 
but this view is deficient. The two principal problems in agricultural develop- 
ment today are the education of the farmers, and the keeping of the farmers on 
the farms. The latter problem is almost entirely an engineering one, and the 
first touches engineering at many points. 

Experience shows that men will stay on the farm if living conditions are made 
tolerable — if they can have a share of the conveniences of the city. 

Here enters the engineer, building better farm buildings, making possible 
light, heat, water, and power service in the farm buildings, improving sanitary 
conditions, installing telephones, constructing highways, and generally helping 
to improve country life. 

Civil Engineering, as distinct from electrical and mechanical engineering, 
covers highway construction, drainage engineering, river and harbor work, flood 
prevention and control, water power and water supply engineering, city planning, 
and other allied subjects. At many points the various branches of engineering 
overlap and mutually cooperate. 

With a fair equipment for our present necessities, we continually strive to 
broaden our field for instruction to meet the standard set by the modern tech- 
nical school ideal, and to establish more points of contact with the public, so 
that we can become more and more the headquarters for advice upon our special 
lines of work. 

Funds have never been available for the investigation of the various engi- 
neering questions of interest to the state. We hope this deficiency will be cor- 
rected in the near future. 

In Drawing, we are endeavoring to supply such instruction in elementary 
freehand drawing as should be, but is not, given in schools of lower grade in the 
state; and in addition thereto, to carry the students through the various branches 
of mechanical drawing, machine drafting, and map drafting necessary to the par- 
ticular lines of study in which they are engaged. 



56 































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ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 









Under the land grant of 1862, the primary object for which this college was 
established is "to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture 
and the mechanic arts." The last named branch is taken care of by the School 
of Engineering, with its three main divisions, civil, mechanical, and electrical 
engineering. 

The courses in Electrical Engineering are in harmony with the general scheme 
of industrial training and enable the graduate to deal intelligently with electrical 
problems likely to be presented to the practical engineer, and to enter success- 
fully into practical work in those branches of engineering in which electricity plays 
the principal part. Electrical methods are being adopted in a constantly en- 
larging field, and this is steadily increasing the demand for graduates in this 
course. 

The work of this department is closely related to the work of the mechanical 
department, especially in the earlier years of the course. Mathematics, physics, 
and chemistry are fundamental to it. In a great many cases, civil, mechanical, 
and electrical engineering problems overlap. Therefore the courses must have 
a number of subjects common to all. Electrical students take the regular courses 
and shop work with the mechanical engineers and have special stress laid on a 
familiarity with power and light plants, the operation of direct and alternating 
current incandescent, arc, and power systems, the principles of alternating cur- 
rents and machinery, the installation of electric light systems, power use and 
transmission, and original research work in the electrical laboratory. They must 
also have some knowledge of certain civil engineering problems, like railway engi- 
neering and water-power plant construction. 

Of recent years, more attention is being paid to modern conveniences in the 
farm home and to general improvements of rural living conditions. In our own 
state we now have a large number of country homes equipped with electric light 
and power plants so simplified that one without technical knowledge can operate 
them, but it is the engineer that has brought about this simplicity of operation. 
There are a number of undeveloped water power sites in our state which would 
yield sufficient electrical energy for lighting home and all outhouses and for power 
to operate fans, sewing-machine motors, and other power-consuming devices on 
the farm. The number of inquiries that this department has had lately about 
this matter gives evidence of the interest of some of our people in these projects. 
The installation and care of telephones on the farm are also part of our work. 

This department is of service to the people of the state in settling disputes 
about meters, etc., in towns and cities and in checking up meters and other appa- 
ratus sent us from various parts of the state. Our standardization apparatus is 
of the finest; our laboratory equipment ranks among the best in the South, and 
with efficient aid and encouragement we hope to make it the best in the South. 

58 






GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, METEOROLOGY, AND MINING 

Geology, with its allied branches, is essential and fundamental to the in- 
structional work of the whole College. Of all the sciences it is the one most funda- 
mental to agriculture, since it deals with the origin and fundamental properties 
of soils. Through the investigations of the department the citizens of the State 
are furnished information concerning the rocks, minerals, soils, and underground 
waters; the clay workers gain useful data about our clays; the well drillers and 
the authorities of the cities learn about the water supply; and the prospective 
buyers obtain information concerning our soils. 

The department furnishes instruction to the students of all the schools of the 
College. The course in physiography is fundamental and of practical value in 
any walk in life. It is an introduction to the physical sciences, treating of the 
earth in its planetary relations, its topographic features and their origin, its 
natural phenomena, and its distribution of plants, animals, and man. 

The general course in geology is of great educational value, since it is a study 
of the constructive and destructive forces and their results, the origin of rocks 
and soils, their erosion and destruction. In specialized work in economic geology, 
the student learns of the origin and occurrence of coal, oil, gas, salt, gypsum, 
fuller's earth, and other economic products. 

Other courses given embrace mineralogy, a study of minerals, their origin, 
mode of occurrence, distribution, physical and chemical properties; meteorology 
and climatology; ore deposits and mining; and soils and soil surveying, dealing with 
the physical and chemical properties of soils, soil provinces and types, the recog- 
nition of soils in the fields, their classification, and actual practice in soil surveying. 

The department is able to be useful to the citizens of the State through its 
laboratory determinations. Rocks and soils are tested and examined and miner- 
als are determined free of charge. Soils, minerals, and rocks are examined in 
the field when practicable. 

In cooperation with the State Geological Survey, the department carries on 
investigations with regard to the geological resources of the State. The results 
of these investigations are published in reports on the clays, structural materials, 
and limestone and marls for agricultural purposes. 

Under direction of the Experiment Station, investigations are made in the 
laboratory and in the field of the soils of the State with regard to acidity, fer- 
tility, deficiencies, and types. The results are published in bulletins, which are 
sent free to all who desire them. 

The department receives from every part of this state, and from other states, 
numerous inquiries relative to all phases of the work in progress. Careful and 
prompt attention to these letters enables us to disseminate useful information 
to a very large body of our citizens. 

60 



MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 



Mechanical engineering, as understood today, includes the design and construc- 
tion of steam engines and steam boilers, gas and gasoline engines, complete power 
plants, machine tools, hoisting and conveying machinery, cranes of usual types, 
rolling mill machinery, automobiles, steam-boats, heating and ventilating ap- 
pliances, and all other types of machinery for manufacturing purposes. 

A noted educator says, "The object of education is service, and for service the 
man needs not merely to be perfectly and normally developed in every part of his 
nature, but also thoroughly furnished, equipped, both with tools and with the skill 
to use them. Therefore, he must have the scientific and the technical training." 

The young apprentice in a commercial shop acquires knowledge slowly and 
with difficulty. He learns the use of a particular machine or to do a certain piece 
of work, and once having learned this, he is kept working at it to gain skill and 
rapidity. In the technical school the student is taught the use of the machine, 
the principle of its construction, the nature of the material worked, and the errors 
to avoid. After learning this, he is allowed to pass to the explanation of some 
other process. The technical school should be just as well equipped as the com- 
mercial shop, but the equipment serves a very different purpose. The object 
of the equipment is the production of intelligent working people and not the pro- 
duction of salable commodities. When shop instruction is used to further com- 
mercial ends, it loses its educational value. The student often looks upon the 
commodity produced as the real purpose of his manual training work, but when 
he is grown to manhood, it becomes apparent to him that the strict training re- 
ceived in the making of these models was only a method of ingraining the habit 
of accuracy, care, self-reliance, and neatness, in addition to the general dexterity 
of hand and a greater love of work. 

Realizing the great importance of this practical training, the policy of the 
College is to require all students who graduate to take shop instruction at some 
time during their respective courses. Laboratory and shop courses are given to 
supplement and reenforce the work given in the class room. "This method of 
bringing the hand and mind to work together lies at the basis of all true technical 
education." 

Practical instruction is given in wood work, pattern making, forge and foundry 
work, and machine work to all engineering students. 

Courses in shop work and manual training are arranged and given to suit 
the requirements of students taking courses in agriculture, general science, and 
industrial education. 

The equipment of the department for teaching the different branches of the 
work is being enlarged as funds are available, and as the number of students 
enrolled increases. 

In the laboratories, the shops and the central power plant are various types 
of appliances and machinery for demonstration work. 

6 2 




PHYSICS 

In a world of progress, how natural that we should find law and order holding 
everywhere! What could be more interesting and instructive than a study of 
this law and order? 

Physics is the science that treats of the phenomena of nature, the changes 
in matter, and the laws according to which these take place. It treats of so many 
phenomena which are facts of every-day experience that it must be one of first 
importance to every one. From such study, the man in common walks of life 
can better understand and practically apply the facts of his experience to his 
profit. The student in any science needs a knowledge of physics, because it is 
so fundamental to all other sciences, and an understanding of any of them is greatly 
increased through this knowledge. With chemistry it is so intimately related 
that either science scarcely has a problem in which the other is not involved, 
while it is very essential to mathematics. To the natural sciences it is less closely 
related, yet in them it is of great importance. 

Its application in agriculture is most pronounced in problems of soil physics. 
Engineering of any form is but applied physics. Civil engineering deals with 
problems in mechanics; mechanical engineering deals with problems in me- 
chanics and heat, particularly; while electrical engineering makes practical 
use of our knowledge of electricity and magnetism. 

To the cultured man in any profession, a knowledge of the elementary prin- 
ciples of physics is also useful: to the lawyer in his cases; to the doctor with his 
X-ray; to the minister in being able to understand and apply illustrations; 
to the historian and the writer. 

In the department of Physics at A. &M., the regular college work is carried 
along on three lines. One group of courses is suited to the agriculturists; another 
to the engineers; while the third is planned for the students of general science. 
Courses are offered to the summer students and teachers also, for the specialists 
and graduate students. Advanced courses in the general divisions of the subject 
are being planned. Among these are advanced mechanics, heat, electrical 
measurements, light, aeronautics, and wireless telegraphy. 

The department is equipped with thoroughly modern and practical apparatus 
to which additions are being made from year to year. A wireless receiving 
station is a part of the equipment. 



4 



INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 

Five lines of study, represented by as many sciences, all related to each other, 
namely, psychology, education, logic, sociology, and ethics, are comprised in 
the department of Philosophy and Sociology. The general subject Education 
is further subdivided into the history of education, psychology as applied to 
the educative process, practical school management, and practical teaching under 
trained supervision. 

The objective in the School of Industrial Education, of which the depart- 
ment of Philosophy and Sociology forms a part, is primarily the training of teach- 
ers for service in industrial schools. A knowledge of the school development and 
activities of the child mind is a fundamental equipment of the successful teacher. 
The well known fact that the school is a social institution, one in which the people 
of a community have to cooperate in order to secure certain advantages for the 
young, renders it desirable that the young man who aspires to teach should equip 
himself with a scientific knowledge of social elements and their value, as well as 
the operation of social forces. The teacher, in order that he fulfill completely 
his mission, needs to become in the highest sense a community leader. To in- 
struct the young he needs to know the child mind ; to be a community leader he 
needs to know human nature and human aspirations; in order to maintain his 
leadership the teacher must be able to balance properly human motives and 
conduct. These, psychology, sociology, and ethics will help to do. 

In the relations growing out of good citizenship in any community one needs 
to be able to weigh the words of those who would influence others by speech, 
whether written or spoken. Logic goes as far as science can in training men to 
estimate the value of consecutive discourse. 

In addition to the general courses named in the introductory paragraph, the 
department offers courses for the training of teachers in the special methods of 
the several subjects of the primary, intermediate, and high school; training in 
the supervision of school and home garden plots worked by school children; a 
course in the ethics of business life and other vocations; a practical course in the 
study of rural life as we find it in this state and in the South. For several years 
the department has each year given instruction to a group of students doing ad- 
vanced work in one or more of the subjects named. The number taking this 
graduate work has increased steadily, indicating a growing interest in the several 
closely related sciences of the department. 



66 




DIVISION OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

Farming is a complicated business. Sir Horace Plunkett, the leader of the 
cooperative movement which has done so much for the building up of Ireland, 
says: "It seemed we needed three things: Better farming, Better business, 
Better living. But I saw that emphasis must be laid on the middle phrase, 
because only through better business could we get better farming or better 
living. First make the farmer a better business man, and these other things will 
be added unto him." 

To make our farmers better business men, the course in business adminis- 
tration was established. The farmer needs more money for good roads, con- 
solidated schools, blooded cattle, and farm improvements. To get it, he must 
learn to record and watch his income and outgo more closely. He must learn 
how to deal with his fellow-man. He must learn how to market his crops to the 
best advantage. He must learn how to cooperate with his neighbors. The 
secret of success in cooperative enterprises, says Clarence Poe, lies in careful 
auditing. We propose to train farmers to do these things accurately, for we 
believe that neither successful farming nor any successful business can be carried 
on without this careful keeping of records. 

Such training is valuable also to any business man, and it will be especially 
worth while to Mississippi business men to be trained in the fundamentals under- 
lying business in Mississippi's great agricultural school. Here they can learn 
the farmer's problems, and help to solve them. The farmer is the backbone of 
the State. 

The student learns bookkeeping, auditing, typewriting, shorthand, elemen- 
tary agriculture, cotton grading, botany, physics, English, mathematics, his- 
tory, Spanish, psychology, ethics, economics, market, taxation, public discourse, 
and other subjects which make him an intelligent, broad-minded, patriotic citizen 
as well as a clear-headed business man. 

The college has maintained a course in bookkeeping from its foundation. The 
demand for this course has been urgent for a number of years. The farmer cannot 
hope to progress rapidly until there is a body of trained men ready to look after 
the business end. These will be provided by this course, which has been made 
possible by slight readjustments in our present work. 

The farmers and business men over the State are enthusiastic in their approval 
of this course — the first of its kind in the South. It marks an epoch in the his- 
tory of Industrial Education, and will be a potent factor in the improvement of 
country life. 



6 8 








Efficiency is a great deal more than mere skill in performing routine 
tasks, important as that is. It implies breadth of view, keenness of 
observation, grasp of underlying principles, thinking power. To ob- 
tain such efficiency, training is necessary; it can be had at A. 8b M. 



There is only one way to handle men — know more than they 
do. The course in Business Administration lays the foundation 
for success in handling men. Thoroughness, accuracy, honesty, 
are the standards set. 



Of course, one can learn in the "School of Hard Knocks." But 

such training is slow, expensive, one-sided, unsatisfactory, and 

discouraging. Four years of well-rounded work at A. 8b M. are 

worth ten of haphazard work without aim. 



The College is making plans to audit accounts for farmers who will 
keep simple records, thus helping them to keep up with their busi- 
ness easily and accurately. We wish to serve the State in every way 
possible. Accurate accounts are the foundation of success. 



(5 9 



MODERN LANGUAGES 

Languages are studied from two viewpoints — the cultural and the practical. 
The practical is stressed here. In order to keep up with the latest develop- 
ments in scientific research, the student must know how to read German, and 
should know French. No medical college now admits students without a knowl- 
edge of at least one modern language. With the opening of the Panama Canal, 
and the development of trade with Central and South America, Cuba, and the 
Philippines, Spanish has become very important. Therefore eleven years ago, 
the department of Modern Languages was established. 

In the School of General Science, the study of German is essential. Especially 
in chemistry, it permits the use of German texts in the laboratory — a thing done 
elsewhere only in the best of the large universities. The scientific departments 
cooperate fully with the department of Modern Languages in coordinating the 
work in language with the work in science. The classes read texts which parallel 
the work being done in the laboratory. 

In the School of Industrial Education, the languages are taught more from the 
cultural standpoint, and Spanish is stressed because there is a growing demand 
for teachers of Spanish in our public schools. 

In the School of Business Administration, Spanish is taught for its practical 
value to the business man. 

In the School of Agriculture and Engineering, the student may study any of 
the three for which he may have the most need. 

The courses are two years in length in German, French, and Spanish. Elective 
courses in special scientific reading, pronunciation, conversation, and history of 
literature are offered. 

The equipment consists of maps, a few books of reference, and a lantern. 
Additional equipment in the way of books, a phonograph for teaching pronun- 
ciation, etc., is badly needed. 

Interest in the work has steadily grown. Students who are preparing for 
scientific callings, for positions with the government, for teaching, and for busi- 
ness, realize the practical value of a modern language. Classes are increasing in 
size and number. The coordination with other departments is becoming closer, 
thus arousing greater interest among the students. The College as a whole is 
growing in practicality and scientific methods. In this movement the depart- 
ment of Modern Languages is a vital part, and it is growing in usefulness as its 
sister departments develop. 



70 




EXTENSION SERVICE 

There has been worked out in America a comprehensive system of agricul- 
tural development and instruction which, in a broad sense, is undoubtedly 
without a parallel in any time or country. A part of the general plan is compara- 
tively new, but an important part of it has long since passed the stage of expe- 
riment. 

The agricultural and mechanical colleges were established primarily for the 
training of young men. These were to be given advantages which their fathers 
on the farm were denied. The teachers of agriculture in the new colleges very 
promptly found themselves facing a somewhat new and unusual condition in 
academic affairs. There were few precedents to guide them. A system of theo- 
retical and practical instruction had to be devised and put into use, and the 
difficulties of the situation were increased by a critical examination of the char- 
acter of the available information concerning the science and art of agriculture. 
It soon became plain that much work remained to be done before the new 
courses in agriculture could be expected to accomplish the result for which the 
colleges were most largely created. On every hand there was a need for a more 
careful and a more scientific study of agricultural problems. 

With the meagre facilities available, the colleges would have required many 
years to carry out the research necessary to develop the facts and to formulate 
the principles of the various divisions of scientific agriculture as we know and teach 
it to-day. To aid them, and through them the agricultural classes generally, 
the experiment stations were established in 1887. These were intended to be an 
integral part of a system of agricultural instruction; the stations were to be 
institutes of agricultural research, and, consequently, the sources of information 
and inspiration for the colleges which preceded them. The stations and colleges 
taken together formed in effect in each state an agricultural university, and the 
union of these two institutions completed the plan for supplying adequate 
instruction in agriculture to college students. 

While the founding of the agricultural and mechanical colleges and the estab- 
lishing of the experiment stations placed before the college student abundant 
opportunities, there yet remained a gap in the educational program that ap- 
peared wider and more significant as agricultural leaders attempted to close it 
through the means at hand. The colleges were established for college men, 
but these form only a small proportion of the population engaged in farming. 
To "benefit agriculture" in a broader sense, the necessity of carrying to the 
farmers on the farms some of the advantages offered the college student steadily 
became more apparent and more imperative. 

It ought to be recorded to the credit of the agricultural colleges and exper- 
ment stations that the most conscientious efforts were put forth to carry agri- 
cultural instruction and inspiration from the college to the farm and thus to 

72 




include within the view of these institutions the entire field of agricultural devel- 
opment. With this object in view, many lecturers were sent throughout the 
states to study conditions and to advocate improved and progressive methods, 
based upon the work of experiment stations and the best agricultural practice 
everywhere. The "farmers' institute" followed as a logical development, and 
very soon the visible results of this extension of the facilities of the educational 
institutions created a necessity for the expansion of the service, which was wholly 
inadequate. 

Through the constant endeavor of effective leaders in agricultural thought 
and development, the necessity for broadening the scope and enlarging the 
facilities of the agricultural and mechanical colleges was pressed upon the atten- 
tion of the federal government. The result has been the enactment into law 
of the Smith-Lever Bill, which will ultimately place at the disposal of the exten- 
sion work in this state approximately one hundred and forty -two thousand 
dollars annually, provided a like sum is subscribed by state, or by the state, 
counties, and individuals combined. There will thus be available finally for the 
agricultural extension service almost three hundred thousand dollars each year. 
This is a large sum, but the hope that it might be expended in a way to justify 
the wisdom and prophetic foresight of those who have labored so effectively 
for the extension service has already developed into a conviction that the work 
is going to reach and benefit so many farmers, farmers' homes, and rural commu- 
nities that no question will ever be raised as to whether the effort is worth the cost. 

The extension service will be carried out by the college in cooperation with the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. The plans already made for it are compre- 
hensive. Farm demonstrators, trained by practical experience and by the 
School of Agriculture of the A. & M. College, will bring to every progressive 
farmer and agricultural community the most helpful information and advice, 
to say nothing of the enthusiasm and vocational pride which the general program 
must foster and even develop. 

The county agent, or advisor, is certain to become an increasingly important 
factor in placing the industry of agriculture in the counties upon a rational, 
more permanent, and more profitable basis. 

The boys' and girls' club work already supplies one of the most effective 
means of reaching and enlisting the interest of the men and women on the farm, 
while training a young generation to become worthy successors of an enlightened 
agricultural practice. 

The duties of the Extension Service are by no means limited to the improve- 
ment of the farm and the farmer. The farmer's home, his school, and the best 
interests of rural community in general come within the scope of this work. 
That it will become a great and permanent agency in improving agriculture 
and enriching rural life in Mississippi, no one who has observed its beginning 
can have a reason to doubt. 



THE MISSISSIPPI AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 

The agricultural experiment stations are essentially institutions for research 
in agriculture. After an experience of almost thirty years, it is safe to say that 
they are now more nearly than ever before fulfilling the true purpose for 
which they were established. Many difficulties presented themselves in the 
early days of these institutions. They were new in conception and design; 
no record of experience was available for their guidance: but the fundamental 
problems growing out of the general plan have been solved, and the stations 
now find themselves a strong arm of the public service. 

The first function of an agricultural experiment station is the acquisition of 
knowledge that will benefit agriculture. It is not the sole or even the principal 
object of the station to collect all possible information on agricultural subjects 
and to pass this on to the farmer in language that he can best understand and in 
a way that will secure and hold his interest. Its purpose is much broader than 
this: the station seeks to secure, through systematic research in its various 
divisions, information that will advance scientific agriculture, and in this impor- 
tant respect, it is an institution for advanced education in agriculture. In 
organization and spirit it may be likened to an agricultural university. 

The Mississippi Experiment Station is an organic part of the Agricultural 
and Mechanical College. The problems coming before its staff are largely those 
arising from or suggested by agricultural conditions of this state. Of course, 
many of these are necessarily fundamental in character, and the solution of them 
adds so much to our common store of knowledge. A zeal for the study of new 
problems in agriculture and in the sciences bearing directly upon it very properly 
characterizes the experiment station staff, but the improvement of agriculture 
in Mississippi is the immediate object of its organization. It is certain that the 
station can be most helpful in this respect by keeping itself in the closest touch 
with the varied problems of the Mississippi farmer. A spirit of helpful coop- 
eration between the farmer and the experiment station is not only desirable; 
it is absolutely essential. 

Through its branches at McNeill, Holly Springs, and Stoneville, questions of 
importance to the agriculture based upon three of the largest types of soil in the 
State may be studied near at hand. The directors of these branch stations lose 
no opportunity of cooperating with the farmers in their districts. In this way 
the important agricultural problems may be formulated and systematically 
studied. The branch stations have carried out successfully the object for which 
they were created, and it seems certain, therefore, that they have amply justified 
the foresight that led to their establishment. 



76 




Xwp* 



I J 









THE HOG DEPARTMENT 

The hog work of the Mississippi Experiment Station has been growing in 
importance, especially during the last three years, and people are giving their 
attention to this important branch of the animal industry. The course adopted 
by the Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture in establishing pig 
club work throughout the South shows the necessity of experiments to give people 
who are about to enter this line of live stock development sufficient knowledge 
in breeding, feeding, care, and management of hogs. 

On account of the practicability of raising hogs in the South, the experiments 
in this department are especially valuable to the small farmer. It is most 
important that this information should reach the public, and that it should orig- 
inate in the Experiment Station. 

These experiments are conducted so that they will correlate with other expe- 
rimental work elsewhere, and not repeat or over-lap experiments that have al- 
ready been prepared. 

It must be readily seen that the relation of hog work to agriculture is very 
close. Up-to-date and successful methods along agricultural lines depend upon 
the production of live stock. As the investment necessary to raise hogs is less 
than for any other line of animal production, the profits are large in proportion 
to the amount invested ; therefore, this industry will be popular as well as profitable. 
It has been determined here that it is unprofitable to attempt to raise hogs unless 
proper pastures are provided so that the animals can harvest their own crops. 
It has also been determined that disease and parasites can be controlled. In- 
formation on this will be furnished free on application to the Hog Department, 
Experiment Station. 

Special colony houses that provide shade and sanitary quarters are essential. 
It is also important that good fences be provided for keeping hogs within certain 
enclosures. A great factor in successful hog raising is good, pure water. 

This department will become more important as time and experience prove 
that the dangers and drawbacks to the hog industry can be overcome. 
A very important feature of hog production is the finishing and marketing 
of the animals, and we believe that the establishment of clubs to sell them will 
be one means of accomplishing this end. 



SO 




THE GENERAL LIBRARY 



"The function of the library as an institution of society is the development 
and enrichment of human life in the entire community by bringing to all the 
people the books that belong to them." 

The heart of the college is its library. For the instructor it is not less impor- 
tant than for the student. One cannot think of a broad academic life without 
adequate library facilities. In a very important sense, the library is the center 
of academic inspiration. 

The attendance at the library is an indication of how much it is appreciated 
by the college community. Last year more than 12,000 books and periodicals 
were circulated outside of the general library, and the attendance was almost 
50,000. The library itself contains 25,000 books and approximately 73,000 
unbound periodicals. The College very naturally makes every effort to enlarge 
the library, which for an institution of this kind should certainly contain not 
less than 100,000 volumes. The successful college man is not necessarily a book 
worm, but much of his time is spent with books. These are the reservoirs of 
human knowledge. Many sciences are represented in the college curriculum, 
and instruction in these departments ought not to be, and cannot be, limited 
always to mere textbook and lecture work. 

The usefulness of the library is greatly increased by the card index. Work on 
this is almost constantly in progress, and more than 60,000 catalogue cards are 
already available to users of the library, and many thousands of index cards will 
be required for the analysis of the books already available. 

Of course, it need not be added that the usefulness of a general college library 
is by no means restricted in its service to the technical departments of the insti- 
tution. Technical and scientific subjects, important as they are, are not the 
whole of college life. The training of the student is much broader than this. 
History, literature, and art are not to be neglected in the development of the cul- 
tured man. There is scarcely a side of college activities that does not come in 
contact with the library. Almost all academic paths lead to it, and the institu- 
tion intends to improve it year by year. 




'h'i'-ifil i tit i i ii 
i ii ii.iii ii 

||l»!ll|!|ff'|ill I I I I' 

iu-i iii iii ■■ 
ii ii 11,111 ii 



THE COLLEGE INFIRMARY 

Increased attention to general sanitation, personal hygiene, pure water, 
air, and food may be counted among the more hopeful signs of the times. More 
than ever before young men are placing a value upon good health and a robust 
constitution as assets in the life career. In the constantly increasing competi- 
tion between men in all lines of endeavor the importance of the power necessary 
for sustained strenuous effort was never more apparent. 

A sanitary environment is absolutely essential to the well-being of any 
community, but the sanitarian finds his work difficult without the hearty coop- 
eration of the citizen. The College attempts to secure this cooperation through 
both precept and example. No effort has been spared to insure the effectiveness 
of the sewerage system and the purity of the water and food supplies, and it need 
hardly be added that the maintenance of the best sanitary conditions throughout 
the buildings and grounds of the entire institution receives the diligent attention 
of the authorities. The general healthful environment may be said to serve the 
double purpose of guarding the health of the student and supplying an object 
lesson that the thoughtful man can not soon forget. 

The J. Z. George Infirmary is fully equipped for the care of the sick. Besides 
two large wards, there are several private rooms for special cases or those requiring 
isolation. The nurses see that those in their care receive every reasonable atten- 
tion that may contribute to their comfort. The expense to each student for med- 
ical attention is small. There are no extra charges for consultation, drugs, or 
for special or expensive treatment that may be necessary in unusual cases. 



84 



THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION 

The Young Men's Christian Association of this college has been in existence 
since 1882, and since its organization it has played a very important part in 
developing manly character among the students. 

We have the largest associate and active membership of all schools, colleges, 
and universities in the South, and the high record of voluntary attendance at 
the two religious meetings speaks well for the general Christian character of our 
young men. During the last college year there was an average attendance at 
Wednesday night prayer meeting of 145, and at the Sunday night meeting of 450. 
During the last college year a Bible school was organized with an enrollment of 
250 students, and this added to the attendance of the several Sunday-schools in 
Starkville made a total of 620 attending sabbath-school. 

The Association reaches all the young men in the college in one way or 
another, and the close connection helps to round out the purpose back of all 
Y. M. C. A. work; namely, to influence men to lead a true Christian life, to make 
the best of their opportunities for mental development, and to stand for and take 
part in clean athletics, as embodied in the trinity of words : Spirit, Mind, Body. 

We are now using our magnificent new home, and we have reason to feel 
grateful to all those who made it possible for us to enjoy to the full the many 
pleasant and wholesome relaxations that are necessary if one would accomplish 
the most from college life. "All work with no play makes Jack a dull boy," is 
every bit as true as "All play with no work makes Jack a dull fellow," because 
of the lack of that which goes to make the well-rounded man. 

Every student who has figured out for himself a budget of time as well as a 
budget of expense finds that he can well afford to be a member of the Association, 
for it gives him training that he can not get in the class room : it clears him from 
brain fag; it shows him the social side of life (man after all ought to be a social 
creature) ; but above all it tries to show him the measure of the stature of the 
man in Christ Jesus, for the one who strives to measure up to this standard is 
bound to be a better student, a better man, and will serve the community in 
which he will eventually live in a faithful, honorable way. 



86 



THE STEWARD'S DEPARTMENT 

"Ho! we are called to a feast, 
The Bull's head is baked to a turn." 

No department of the college is of more importance than the Mess -Hall, 
where the students meet thrice daily, to partake of their meats. 

It has always been the policy of the administration to endeavor to give to 
the students the very best the market affords in the way of good wholesome foods, 
at the lowest possible cost, and there has been marked improvement, not only 
in cuisine but in service and sanitation, in the last few years. 

More than ten thousand dollars has been expended in the last two years 
in this department in improvements; such, as cold storage facilities for the 
care of fresh meats and other perishables; sanitary floors, and serving 
tables in kitchen and bakery; the introduction of dish washing machinery 
where the silver-ware and dishes are thoroughly cleansed and sterilized under 
superheated steam. 

The butter and milk served in the Mess-Hall are of first class quality and are 
produced by the dairy and creamery departments of the college, by students' 
labor. The beef and pork are raised and fattened on the college farm, and the 
slaughtering is done also by students. 

Experiments recently made have demonstrated that we can make excellent 
hams and bacon on the campus out of our experiment station pigs, and in future 
this will be done, thus insuring healthful products for the Mess-Hall. 

Arrangements are now being made to accommodate in dining hall and dormi- 
tories 1,200 students, as we have many reasons to expect that number to matric- 
ulate during the session of 1915-1916. 



ss 







.v p- 





IN FRONT OF ENGINEERING AND CHEMISTRY BUILDINGS 




THE COLLEGE HAND 




MILITARY DEPARTMENT 

The establishment of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts in the states is 
due primarily to the Morrill Act, which passed Congress during the war between 
the states. Instruction in military science and tactics was one of the important 
conditions imposed by the federal government at a time when the necessity 
for young men trained for the military service was very keenly felt. 

The Military Department is under the direct supervision of an officer of the 
U. S. Army. While the department itself is maintained primarily for the train- 
ing of men for the service of the nation in time of war, there are many advantages 
in a course of military training and discipline from the point of view of the civilian. 
System, promptness, obedience to proper authority are absolutely necessary, 
of course, to a military organization, but systematic and well-ordered methods 
of work, habits of promptness, and a proper attitude toward those in lawful author- 
ity are all highly desirable in civil life. 

Military discipline at the Agricultural and Mechanical College is firm, but 
not irksome. The regulations in force are designed to bring about a system of 
orderly conduct among the cadets. The proper enforcement of these regulations 
rests with the Commandant and the cadet officers and non-commissioned officers. 
The student body is organized into an infantry regiment of twelve companies. 
The regimental band is a regular division of the military organization. 

In addition to the training in tactics and marksmanship, the department of 
Military Science interests itself greatly in the physical development of the cadets. 
Systematic exercises and instruction in sanitation and personal hygiene under 
the direction of the officers are a part of the daily routine. 

The Military Department is the channel through which the authorities of 
the institution reach and control the entire body of students and each individual 
student. It seems certain that this system of control is not without many ad- 
vantages to the cadet himself, and its helpfulness in the administration of the 
affairs of the College has been demonstrated during many years. 






9 4 




THE COLORS 




